Helically shaped meat product

ABSTRACT

A reconstituted meat product comprising a plurality of meat pieces agglomerated together, wherein the meat pieces are of an elongate shape and are arranged in a substantially helical array through the meat product. The helical arrangement of the meat pieces aids in binding the meat pieces and gives to the reconstituted product a natural appearance.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an improved reconstituted meat productand more particularly to a reconstituted meat product which may besevered to produce steak-like pieces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many efforts have been made in the past to agglomerate together smallmeat pieces to produce a reconstituted meat product having the qualitiesof a piece of primal meat. Primal meat generally has longitudinallyextending muscle fibres. In the formation of steak-like products it isnormal to cut across these longitudinally extending muscle fibres. Inthe formation of reconstituted meat products it has been proposedpreviously to orientate the fibres of the meat particles in a givendirection and then to cut across the direction of those fibres in aneffort to produce a product approximating that of natural primal meat(see for example Australian patent specification 19235/70 and 29961/71).These efforts have been unsuccessful in that the meat products so formedfail to show the coherence exhibited by natural meat products thoughthey do have desirable fibrous properties. In order to cause theseproducts to cohere adequately it has previously been proposed either toadd binders of various types to the reconstituted product such as salt,or to encase the reconstituted product in a natural or synthetic skin tohold the product together (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 3852487). Thesebinders have improved the cohesion of the comminuted meat piecestogether, however they often impart their own adverse properties to thefinished product or detract from its appearance. Thus salt is nowconsidered to adversely affect health and is preferably avoided in largeamounts. Similarly, large quantities of finely ground meat emulsionbinder included in reformed meat products can give the product anunnatural colour and/or texture. Thus at the date of this invention itwas known to produce textured products without good adhesion and toproduce reasonably well cohered products without texture. It was not,however, possible to produce a product having both desirable qualitiessimultaneously.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present inventor has realized that by forming a reconstitutedproduct of meat particles which are elongated in form and by arrangingthose meat particles in a substantially helical array through the meatproduct one may achieve a product having good physical coherence and anatural textured appearance even though the structure of thereconstituted product is from a theoretical point of view quitedifferent from that of natural meat.

The present invention accordingly consists in a meat product comprisinga plurality of meat pieces agglomerated together, characterized in thatthe meat pieces are elongate in form and arranged in a substantiallyhelical array through the meat product.

It should be pointed out at this juncture that each piece of meat willbe made up of a number of meat fibres and the fibres of the meat piecesdo not themselves need to be arrayed in any particular way but ratherthe meat pieces should be elongated or stretched out such that in themeat product they are arranged in a substantially helical array.

The meat product is preferably formed in a cylindrical shape having alongitudinal axis. The meat pieces are preferably arranged in asubstantially helical array around that longitudinal axis. If the meatproduct is to be formed into steak-like pieces these steak-like piecesare preferably cut from the cylindrical meat product at right angles tothe longitudinal axis of the meat product such that the meat pieces inthe steak-like article will themselves traverse that article in asubstantially helical fashion. The helical array of the meat pieces isbelieved to substantially improve the coherence of the reconstitutedmeat product as compared with any previously known reconstituted meatproduct.

It will be recognized that the products according to this invention donot need to be cylindrical or circular in shape. Other shaped productsmay be readily produced and are encompassed within this inventionprovided the meat pieces are arranged in a generally helical array.

In preferred embodiments of the invention from 40 to 70% of the numberof meat pieces in the meat product are so arranged in the meat productthat they have a minimum angle of from 10° to 50° relative to the axisof the helical array when seen at right-angles to that axis and with themeat pieces appearing to traverse that axis.

Preferably the meat pieces have a length of from 10 millimetres to 100millimetres and a transverse dimension of from 2 millimetres to 70millimetres. The elongated meat particles may be used on their own toform the meat product or they may be mixed together with finelycomminuted meat material which is not itself elongated. The finelycomminuted meat material may comprise meat which contains sinews suchthat the sinews are rendered substantially organoleptically undetectableby the comminution of the original meat material.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention thesurface of the individual meat pieces are rubbed or otherwise roughenedprior to being agglomerated together to increase their naturalcoherence.

The formation of a rubbed or otherwise roughened surface on the meatpieces is preferably achieved by passage of the meat pieces through thecounter-rotating knives described in PCT patent specificationPCT/AU86/00163, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,165. The roughening couldhowever be produced by merely mixing the meat pieces together for aprolonged period. The latter course of action however is disadvantageousin that it tends to give the meat an unduly dry texture.

The meat products according to this invention are preferably produced inthe apparatus described in PCT patent application PCT/AU86/00163 howeverother mechanisms could be used to achieve a similar result. The contentsof PCT patent specification PCT/AU86/00163 are incorporated herein byreference. Other machines and methods may, however, be used to producethe product according to this invention. The meat pieces may be fedmanually into a suitable container while combining the meat pieces intothe desired array. In another alternative the extrusion machineaccording to Australian Patent Specifications 451786 or 452429 may beadapted provided that the product produced thereby is fed into acontainer which is caused to rotate about its longitudinal axis toinduce the meat particles to achieve a helical array rather than anarray parallel to the direction of extrusion.

It is of the essence of the present invention that the meat be raw atthe time of the formation of the meat product and it is desirable thatonce formed the meat product is frozen. Preferably, the meat is directedcooked from the frozen state although it may thawed and cooked from athawed state. The meat may be the muscle derived from any suitablemammalian or avian species of animal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 diagramatically shows the orientation of meat pieces within theproduct of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS EXAMPLE 1

A beef carcass was boned and the substantially sinewless meat on thecarcass, which comprised about 85% by weight of the meat, was passedthrough a mincer having a plate carrying 12mm diameter holes. Thesinewed meat comprising the remainder of the meat from the carcass waspassed through a mincer having a plate carrying 8mm diameter holes. Thetwo minced meats were mixed together and again passed through the mincercarrying the plate having 12mm holes.

The combined minced meat product was then passed through a machine asdescribed in PCT Patent Specification PCT/AU86/00163, now U.S. Pat. No.4,815,165. The product therefrom was fed into a cylinder of 100mmdiameter. After the container was filled it was frozen.

As is described in the referenced specification the meat is torn apartinto elongate pieces between shredding roller blades rotating atdifferent speeds and is fed through a rotating auger into a cylindricalcontainer having a diameter of 100mm which is slidably disposed on theauger. The rotating auger carries at its free end a comb which engageswith the meat pieces as they leave the auger and pass into thecylindrical container and sweeps them along a circular path. The meatpieces passing from the auger into the container pack into the bottom ofthe container and gradually push the container. This movement of thecontainer combined with the circular movement imparted to the meatpieces causes them to assume a helical array in the container.

The majority of the meat pieces were found to be arranged in the productin a helical array about the longitudinal axis of the product. Theindividual meat pieces were found to be elongated and of a rough orstringy nature due to their passage between the rotating blades of themachine described in PCT/AU86/00163.

EXAMPLE 2

The process of Example 1 was repeated but incorporating in the meatprior to putting it into the machine as described in PCT PatentSpecification PCT/AU86/00163 a number of pieces of black string of about200mm length.

After being frozen and thawed the product was examined. It was foundthat the majority of the pieces of string were helically arranged in theproduct about its longitudinal axis.

The drawing annexed hereto shows diagrammatically the orientation ofsome of these pieces of black string within the product. The orientationof the pieces of black string within the product corresponds to theorientation of the meat pieces within that product.

I claim:
 1. A reconstituted meat product comprising a plurality of meatpieces agglomerated together, wherein the meat pieces are elongate inform and arranged in a substantially helical array through the meatproduct.
 2. A meat product as claimed in claim 1, in which from 40 to70% of the number of meat pieces in the product are so arranged thereinthat they have a minimum angle of from 10° to 50° relative to the axisof the helical array.
 3. A meat product as claimed in claim 1, in whichthe meat pieces have a length of from 10mm to 100mm and a transversedimension of from 2mm to 70mm.
 4. A meat product as claimed in claim 3,in which the elongated meat pieces are mixed with a finely comminutedmeat material which is not itself elongated.
 5. A meat product asclaimed in claim 4, in which the finely comminuted meat materialcontains sinews which have been rendered substantially organolepticallyundetectable.
 6. A meat product as claimed in claim 1, in which thesurface of individual meat pieces has been rubbed or otherwise roughenedprior to being agglomerated together.